


The Amazing Race

by emalilly23



Series: Surprises [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 'Swawesome Santa, 'Swawesome Santa 2017, Amazing Race - Freeform, Friendship, Happy Ending, I want to tag is properly but it'll spoil the fic and i want it to be a surprise, Jack is great at keeping secrets, Lardo is a photographer, M/M, Travel, and Bad Bob, and so is Tater, like really happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 02:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emalilly23/pseuds/emalilly23
Summary: Bitty and Tater are selected to represent the Falcons on a weekend long NHL Amazing race taking them all across North America and meeting other NHL players.What they find at the finish line surprises them, or at least one of them, the most.





	The Amazing Race

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shuuntje](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shuuntje/gifts).



> Set in 2019. We're going to assume that the current (Dec. 2017) rosters stay the same.

“B, we won!” Tater yelled through the phone. “We go on Amazing Race against other hockey teams.”

“Oh lord. Oh, my god.” Moving the phone away from his ear Bitty turned to Jack across the kitchen, “Tater and I won. We’re doing the Amazing Race.” Turning his attention back to the phone. “I’m coming over later to go through all the details. I still can’t believe it. This is going to be so exciting!” Bitty hung up the phone and was engulfed in Jack’s arms.

“I’m so happy for you Bud.” Jack mumbled against the back of Bitty’s head.

“I just wish the two of us had won. It would have been even better if you got to come with me.”

“Hey now, you and Tater are going to have so much fun. I’m just so happy you won. Everyone else is going to be so jealous. Tater’s probably already texted the group chat. Why don’t you text the Samwell group and I’ll start dinner.” Bitty kissed Jack, swiped his phone off the island, and started texting furiously on his way to the living room.

*\\_     _/*

A few days after Tater had called, Bitty was packing a small bag for their weekend trip.

“So how cold is it in the summer in Canada?” Bitty smirked to Jack while packing.

“Freezing. You should take your winter jacket or you might come back an ice block.” Jack came up behind him and rested his head on Bitty’s shoulder. “I wish I was going with you instead of Tater.”

“What, scared he might whisk me off my feet and we’ll come back Sunday night married?” He sighed, “I wish you were coming too.” Bitty turned to face Jack and held him tight. With his words muffled against Jack’s chest, Bitty mumbled, “I promise I’m going to take so many photos to show you after. You’re going to feel like you were there.”

Later, they piled into Jack’s car. Bitty and Jack in the front and Tater in the back. It wasn’t too long of a drive to the airport.

“So Tater, where do you think we’re headed first?”

“Only NHL cities, right? So only 33 options. Unless we make stop in Providence, then 34. But unlikely. I hope is not west coast. Too much time change.”

“I really want to go to St Louis.” Bitty yearned

“Bits, have we never been to St Louis together?” Jack questioned.

“Never. I’ve always wanted to see the Arch. Such a strange building right by the river. You could fall out of it in Missouri and crash into the water in Illinois.”

“Well if you don’t get there this weekend, we’ll go later in the summer.” Bitty beamed at him.  
“Well, we’re here.” Jack pulled to the curb on the departures level and put the car in park. They all got out of the car. Jack pulled Tater into a quick hug with a pound on the back then he turned to Bitty. Pulling him close and tucking his face into Bitty’s hair, he whispered “I love you so much.”

Bitty squeezed him back and pulled back, looking up at Jack. “Love you too.” and he perched up on his tiptoes and kissed Jack. When they broke the kiss, Jack kept hold his hand. “Honey, we’ll only be gone the weekend. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“I know.” Jack gave Bitty’s hand one last squeeze and let go. “Have fun. Fly safe.” Bitty and Tater turned to walk into the airport. Jack stood there until they passed through the doors, then he drove back home.

In the terminal, Bitty and Tater wander the concourse looking for George, who said she’d be there to give them their first envelope.

“Hey you two, I have your envelope.” George pulled it out of her bag but before she handed it over she continued, “now remember, no communication about the race at all.” She stared at Bitty. “In each city you’ll need to solve the clues to receive your next envelope. You may or may not run into other teams on your race, but you’ll see them all at the end.” George looked at her watch. “Two more minutes until I can give you your envelope. Are you excited? I wanna hear all about it when you get back. Okay, here you go. Have fun and don’t break any laws!” She handed over the envelope.

Bitty took it in his hand and ripped it open. He took the contents out. Reading aloud from a folded piece of paper, “congratulations on starting your race. This envelope contains your plane tickets and clue to find your next envelope. To start, you are heading to Calgary, home of the Calgary Flames. To find the location of your next envelope you will need to find out how many teas are sold at David’s Tea on 843 17th Ave in Downtown Calgary. The location for you next envelop is ______ 9th Ave. Good luck. P.S. no ubers or taxis. Public Transit only unless otherwise arranged by the organizers” Bitty stuffed the paper back in the envelope and pulled out the plane tickets. “Our plane leaves in two hours. We need to hurry. Thanks George!”

“This way B,” Tater pointed to the security line. They ran towards it and joined the line. As usual, TSA took forever but they eventually made it through and headed towards their gate.

“Tater,” Bitty started, “I’ve never been to Calgary. Do you know where we’re going?”

“No clue. Never explored Calgary. Only ever travel on team bus. But, first time for everything, yeah?” For the remaining time before their plane boarded, Bitty and Tater learned all about the  
Calgary transit system.

*\\_     _/*

  
Within no time, Bitty and Tater had landed in Calgary, made their was through customs, and made their way downtown to David’s Tea. Bitty had his phone out while they were moving through the streets of Calgary on the C-Train. Compared to the Boston and New York subways that he’d been on, the Calgary system seemed like a joke; So tiny. He had been taking photos of everything; views from the plane, the airport, Tater and him in line at the airport, Tater and him waiting on the platform for the C-Train, Tater and him sitting in the train car. If it was remotely interesting, Bitty took a photo.

Eventually, they reached their station and walked/ran towards David’s Tea. Coming to Calgary only once a year helped Tater not being recognized.

Bursting through the door, Tater cried, “how many tea?”

“Excuse me?” The sales woman asked midway through restocking a shelf.

“Pardon my friend here,” Bitty walked towards her, “we were just wondering how many varieties of teas you sold here?” His hand gestured around the store.

“Oh, no worries. I’m not actually sure.” She looked around the store guesstimating. “Maybe around 100?”

“No-no, exact number please,” Tater insisted.

“Well,” she started then looked towards the cash. “Charlie, could you check for these gentlemen?” She turned back towards Bitty and Tater. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Umm,” Bitty started. It would be rude to walk out of here with nothing after asking such a odd question. “What’s your favourite calming tea?” He always made sure to have a stash in the back of the kitchen pantry for when Jack needed something other than coffee or their regular tea.

“Oh,” she exclaimed. “That would be The Big Chill. It’s organic with apple, peppermint, apricot, and just so refreshing.”

“Great! I’ll take two.” She went over to a shelf and picked it out for Bitty.

At the cash, Charlie rang them up and as he handed Bitty the receipt, “oh by the way, we sell 101 different teas.”

“Thank y’all so much,” Bitty addressed both of them and he and Tater walked out the door. Once out the door he whipped his phone out of his pocket. “Tater, what street is it again?”

“Uhh. 9 Avenue.” Tater replied.

“So 101 9th Avenue…the Calgary Tower. Tater, to the tower!”

Running down the adjacent street, they reached the base of the tower and bought their tickets. With hardly any line in front of them they were soon in an elevator zooming up to the observation deck. They stepped off the elevator and the view took Bitty’s breath away. From this height, he could see the mountains in the distance with their ever-snow-capped peaks. For a moment, he was transfixed by the sight and drawn towards the windows with his phone up taking pictures.

Tater cleared his throat, “B. Envelope.”

“Right...yeah. It’s just so pretty. I know we saw them from the plane but there much different here. The mountains feel more real. And all the flat land in front of them. But yeah, the envelope. Where do you think it is?” Tater shrugged and they started walking around the deck looking for the marked envelope.

They rounded the corner and, across from the gift shop was a guy in a Flames jersey looking out the window with an envelope laying on the ledge next to him. The two approached him. Tater’s eyes widened when he recognized the man in front of them.

“Jagr. You part of race?”

“Ah, Mashhkov glad to see you.” He reached out a hand and grasped Tater’s. He then turned to Bitty, “and you are?”

“Eric….or Bitty. Hockey name.” Bitty extended his hand and shook the hockey legend’s hand too.

“Time is of the essence. Your envelope. Good luck on the rest of your race.” Bitty took the envelope out of his hand and looked down to open it and read it. When he looked up again, Jagr was gone.

*\\_     _/*

Three hours later Bitty and Tater were sitting in the airport waiting for their flight to Toronto to board. The envelope hadn’t told them much, only to be on the 6pm flight to Toronto and that they would receive further instructions later. The two had spent the rest of the afternoon in the Calgary Tower and wandering around downtown Calgary. Bitty was itching to tweet something, but refrained. He even had his phone on airplane mode to reduce his temptation, though he did have a queue of texts and snaps for Jack waiting to be sent.

“B. I go to bathroom. You want anything to eat?”

“A bottle of water would be great Tater, thanks.” Tater left leaving Bitty to flit his eyes around at the other travelers.

Tater soon returned with Bitty’s water and two sandwiches, “for the flight. Plane food never good.”

As soon as Tater sat down their flight was being called for boarding. They made their way slowly through the line and soon they were walking onto the plane, the flight attendant directing them to the far side of the plane.

Neither of them slept much on planes. Instead they passed the time watching movies or playing on their phones. Two hours into the flight, as they were passing over Manitoba, the flight attendant who had greeted them walked by.

“Excuse me sirs, but I believe this is for you,” and she handed over an envelope and continued back up the aisle.

“Tater, what does it say?” Bitty asked pulling out his headphones.

“Hotel reservation and,” Tater scanned through the rest of the text, “next envelope location. Casa Loma. Is castle in Toronto.”

“Who do you think’ll be there?” Bitty tried to run through the Maple Leafs roster in his head. He’d only met a few players at the different functions and galas he attended with Jack. “Oh, I hope it’s Connor Carrick Following . I love his Instagram. Those coffees are beautiful.”

“No point in guessing B. We find out tomorrow.”

And they did. In arrivals, they met a man holding a sign with “Bittle & Mashhkov” written on it. The man drove them to their hotel where they immediately crashed onto the bed after a long day of traveling across the continent and back. Later that morning, they found breakfast and a street car to take them up to the castle. After climbing the stairs and looking out to soak in the view, Bitty and Tater made their way into the castle. As much as they wanted to stay and look around the historic site, they sped through the place looking for a Maple Leafs jersey. At the top of the lookout tower, they found him.

“Nice to you meet you again Bittle. Mashhkov.” Patrick Marleau shook Bitty’s hand and nodded at Tater.

“Great to see you again too Mr. Marleau.” Bitty smiled.

“I believe this is your last envelope to end your race. Good luck.” He winked at them as he descended the spiral stairs.

“Open it B!” Tater yelled.

“It’s…it’s one standby ticket to Montreal. The other one,” Bitty started reading the paper, “is somewhere downtown where you can play hockey.” He looked up in disbelief. “Somewhere you can play hockey, in Canada! In Toronto of all places! We’re never going to find it.” He slumped against the wall.

“Okay, B, listen. From top of head, where you play hockey in city?”

“The ACC, uhh a frozen pond somewhere, indoor rink?” Bitty guessed.

“One more place you forgetting. Ever been to Hockey Hall of Fame?” Tater said with a smile.

*\\_     _/*

Tater pulled a cap low over his head. His odds of being recognized had significantly increased from when they were in Calgary.

“Over to left,” Tater instructed. Behind the displays of old jerseys, gold medals, championship rings, and team photos was the interactive section of the museum. To Bitty’s disbelief, there was a mini hockey rink for kids to play with. Standing along the boards was none other than Bad Bob himself in his Montreal Canadiens jersey.

“Bob, what are you doing here?” Bitty hugged him.

“Eh, they asked pretty much everyone if they could help out this weekend, and I happened to be free.”

“But I thought you’d be in Montreal or Pittsburgh since you played there.”

“They had enough people on duty there. Besides, they needed someone great to look over this place. Can’t have some 22-year-old be in charge here.”

“I’m glad to see you. This place is incredible.”

“Well, here you are. You two better hurry now. Don’t want to waste anytime. Oh, and when you get back home, tell Jack I say hi”

“Will do Bob.”

“Good luck”, he called as the two raced raced back through the hall of fame and headed to the airport.

*\\_     _/*

Being on standby was nowhere near as fun as tv and movies made it seem. Thankfully, there were countless flights between Toronto and Montreal. Unfortunately for Bitty and Tater, everyone seemed to show up for their flight that day. They sat in the airport constantly moving around to gates hoping to catch a flight until the late afternoon. They were finally able to catch a 4pm flight to Montreal, with Bitty in the front of the plane and Tater in the back.

Once again, a flight attendant approached bitty halfway through the flight with an envelope containing their last instructions. Bitty got out of his seat and walked down the aisle to Tater.

“Okay, this better be the last one. I’ve had enough of this constant flying.” Bitty said seriously.  
“We need to go to the lookout. That’s good. Jack and I have been there before. I guess that's where everyone finishes.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to return to your seat. We’re beginning our descent now.”

“See ya later Tater.” Bitty waved and returned to his seat.

They found each other again after they disembarked the plane. Walking through the airport, Bitty googled how to get to the lookout on top of Mount Royal. He found the airport bus that took them right into the city. From there they took the metro and another bus until they found themselves walking up to the road that would take them to the lookout. After pausing to take some photos of a squirrel who had wandered onto the road, they soon reached the fork in the road which lead to the view of the city.

There weren’t many people about, a couple off to the side, a girl taking photos of the city, and a man taking in the view. Bitty looked around for some sort of fanfare announcing this was the finish line, but there was nothing.

Bitty turned to Tater, “we must be in the wrong place.” But all Tater could do was point towards the edge of the lookout and at the man who had now turned around holding a sign. Bitty couldn’t read it from that far away so he approached. As he got closer, he started to make out the words. Once he could made out what that sign said, he stopped in his tracks and looking into the face of the man holding it. Shaking his head, he continued towards the “Yo, marry me Eric Bittle” sign that Jack was holding up.

“Hey Bits, how was the race?” Jack asked with a cheeky grin.

“Mr. Zimmermann,” Bitty started as his eyes teared up. “What on earth did you do?”

“I’ll explain it all in the minute, but first,” Jack leaned the sign against the stone barricade and pulled a box out of his pocket. “You’ve been a part of my life for seven years now. And those seven years haven’t been the easiest. It took me the better part of a year to even treat you like a friend. And then one more to actually realize how much you meant to me. Since then you’ve always been by my side. You’ve made my life so much better than it could have been. I love you Bits, and have loved you for the past five years. So I think it’s time…” Jack got down on one knee and looked up at Bitty. “Will you marry me?”

Bitty lowered himself to the ground on both knees and looked at Jack. “Do I really need to answer this? Yes, of course I’ll marry you.” Leaning forward, Bitty hugged and kissed Jack.

Leaning back he let Jack place the ring on his finger. Coming out of his daze, Bitty heard a clicking sound. Looking around, Bitty saw the girl he’d seen earlier, who he’d now realized was Lardo, capturing the whole scene.

“Hey Bits.” She smiled and took another photo.

Bitty laughed and looked back towards his fiance. “So, you still owe me an explanation.”

And so, Jack explained, “three month ago I went to Shitty and Lardo with this idea. I remember you had said that you loved treasure hunts as a kid. So I came up with this plan, a fake NHL Amazing Race. I had Lardo design all the papers and George write up all clues and organize the flights. My dad helped me get in touch with Jagr. Jagr he played with for a few years and I’ve met Marleau enough times at different events.”

I then had the whole team go along with the plan. Mentioning to you whenever you asked that they’d entered with their spouse or girlfriend or even each other and how excited they were.  
As much as they were impressed, they guys planning to propose soon now feel like they have to up their game.”

“But honey, how’d you get the clues on to the flight attendants?”

“Tater had them in his bag. While you weren’t looking, he went up to the gate and explained everything, asking to have the clue passed along to the flight attendant, or giving it to them on the plane. He’s been texting me updating me on your guy’s location and what time you’d be arriving.”

The sun was setting around them and Lardo was still taking pictures.

“Oh sweetpea, you didn’t need to do all of this.”

“I know, but you have to admit you had fun didn’t you?” All Bitty could do was smile at Jack and hold him close. The couple on the other side of the lookout and Tater, who’d hung back, approached them. Bob and Alicia had been there the whole time. They toasted with Jack and Bitty with a bottle of champagne they brought with them and six champagne flutes.

After and hour or so of recounted the adventure, Jack and Bitty retired to a hotel room downtown. Lardo, being the amazing friend she was had already sent over the photos she’d taken. They both agreed on a photo; Bitty kissing jack on his tiptoes with the ring in plain view overlooking the city at sunset. They sent it out to the group chats and posted it on instagram and twitter, turned off their phones, and finally celebrated just the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a friend's real life proposal. I was told about the adventure they went on but only discovered years later that it was an elaborate proposal. To this day, they are the cutest family I know.
> 
> To Shuuntje: Sorry it was posted at the very last minute. With finals and everything I forgot/wanted to make it feel like a Christmas present (unless you don't celebrate Christmas then it's a "Happy December 25th" present). I hope you liked it!


End file.
